In Lubbock, Tex. Derrek Lee Hager had just dropped off his girlfriend in the Texas Panhandle and was headed to a nearby town with four other friends to continue enjoying their spring break. The teens never made it though, because they perished in a fiery wreck near Dumas after the driver ran a stop sign and collided with a fuel-filled tanker.

The deaths of the five Texas teens were on the same day as an Ohio accident that killed six and a day before an Illinois crash killed four. Three teenagers also died recently in Indiana when the police said that the drivers of two pick-up trucks both ran a four-way stop and collided into one another.

These deadly accidents serve as terrible reminders of dangers of teen driving, but contrast statistics that have indicated fatal crashes among teen drivers have declined throughout the past decade, according to a report recently released by the Governors Highway Safety Association. This report also indicates that deaths of teen drivers have increased in the last six months of 2012, reversing the ten-year trend.

Fatal Teen Car Crash Statistics

In 2000, there were 435 16-year-old drivers killed, but by 2011, that had dropped to 173. Deaths among 17-year-old driver deaths had also dropped from 564 to 250, according to the report.

The deaths of 16 and 17-year-old drivers during the first six months of 2012, however, rose a combined 19 percent from 202 in 2011 to 240 in 2012. The report does not include passengers.

Despite this recent increase, overall teen driving deaths are still down compared to a decade ago before the state-imposed restrictions including limits of passengers and nighttime driving.

Deaths of young passengers when the driver was between 15 and 20 years old have dropped from 1898 passengers in 1982 to 777 in 2011, according to the report.

If you have been the victim of a young teen driver on the road, contact a personal injury attorney for assistance. The Begum Law Group will fight for you in McAllen, Brownsville, Laredo and San Antonio, Tex. today.